IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i9p4741-d541980.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Heavy Metal Concentrations in Orchard Soils with Different Cultivation Durations and Their Potential Ecological Risks in Shaanxi Province, Northwest China

Author

Listed:
  • Hongmei Dong

    (School of Management, Xi’an University of Science and Technology, Xi’an 710054, China)

  • Jingbo Zhao

    (School of Geography and Tourism, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an 710119, China
    State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi’an 710061, China
    Key Laboratory of Aerosol Chemistry and Physics, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi’an 710061, China)

  • Mengping Xie

    (State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi’an 710061, China
    College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)

Abstract

The heavy metal pollution of soils, resulting from long-term fertilizing activity, is becoming serious in many countries, endangering ecological safety and human health. This study employed inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) to investigate concentrations of eight heavy metal elements (Cd, Hg, As, Pb, Cr, Cu, Ni, and Zn) in five apple orchard soil profiles after different cultivation durations, one modern intercropping farmland soil profile, and one natural soil profile from Baishui County, in Shaanxi Province, Northwest China. The potential risk associated with the presence of heavy metals in the soils was assessed by the single-factor pollution index ( P i ), Nemerow comprehensive index (NCI), and potential ecological risk index (RI). Results showed that the average concentrations of Cr, Ni, As, Pb, and Hg in the farmland soil were higher than those in the apple orchard soils. The average concentrations of Ni, Cu, As, and Hg in the apple orchard soils reached the highest after 25 years of cultivation. The results imply that concentrations of heavy metals will increase with increasing cultivation time. The farmland soil had the highest NCIs, while the NCIs of the apple orchard soils also increased with cultivation time. Compared with the quality standards of pollution-free orchards and green food production areas, all P i s and NCIs were less than 1 and 0.7, respectively, indicating that the soils were in healthy condition. The RI results also suggest that the soils have a low ecological risk (RI < 150). Although the potential ecological risk is currently low, predicting and reducing heavy metal input should be considered.

Suggested Citation

  • Hongmei Dong & Jingbo Zhao & Mengping Xie, 2021. "Heavy Metal Concentrations in Orchard Soils with Different Cultivation Durations and Their Potential Ecological Risks in Shaanxi Province, Northwest China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-11, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:9:p:4741-:d:541980
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/9/4741/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/9/4741/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dingxuan Yan & Zhongke Bai & Xiaoyang Liu, 2020. "Heavy-Metal Pollution Characteristics and Influencing Factors in Agricultural Soils: Evidence from Shuozhou City, Shanxi Province, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-13, March.
    2. Xiaolu Yan & Miao Liu & Jingqiu Zhong & Jinting Guo & Wen Wu, 2018. "How Human Activities Affect Heavy Metal Contamination of Soil and Sediment in a Long-Term Reclaimed Area of the Liaohe River Delta, North China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-19, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yanhui Chen & Guosheng Li & Linlin Cui & Lijuan Li & Lei He & Peipei Ma, 2022. "The Effects of Tidal Flat Reclamation on the Stability of the Coastal Area in the Jiangsu Province, China, from the Perspective of Landscape Structure," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-20, March.
    2. Farid Ul Haque & Faridullah Faridullah & Muhammad Irshad & Aziz-Ur-Rahim Bacha & Zahid Ullah & Muhammad Fawad & Farhan Hafeez & Akhtar Iqbal & Rashid Nazir & Abdulwahed Fahad Alrefaei & Mikhlid H. Alm, 2023. "Distribution and Speciation of Trace Elements in Soils of Four Land-Use Systems," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-13, October.
    3. Kristina Baziene & Ina Tetsman & Ramune Albrektiene, 2020. "Level of Pollution on Surrounding Environment from Landfill Aftercare," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-14, March.
    4. Fuyao Chen & Yongjun Yang & Jiaxin Mi & Run Liu & Huping Hou & Shaoliang Zhang, 2019. "Effects of Vegetation Pattern and Spontaneous Succession on Remediation of Potential Toxic Metal-Polluted Soil in Mine Dumps," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-13, January.
    5. Chen, Fu & Ma, Jing & Akhtar, Shahzad & Khan, Zafar Iqbal & Ahmad, Kafeel & Ashfaq, Asma & Nawaz, Hummera & Nadeem, Muhammad, 2022. "Assessment of chromium toxicity and potential health implications of agriculturally diversely irrigated food crops in the semi-arid regions of South Asia," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 272(C).
    6. Sukai Zhuang & Xinwei Lu, 2020. "Environmental Risk Evaluation and Source Identification of Heavy Metal(loid)s in Agricultural Soil of Shangdan Valley, Northwest China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-15, July.
    7. Yang Yu & Yue Ling & Yunzhao Li & Zhenbo Lv & Zhaohong Du & Bo Guan & Zhikang Wang & Xuehong Wang & Jisong Yang & Junbao Yu, 2022. "Distribution and Influencing Factors of Metals in Surface Soil from the Yellow River Delta, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-17, April.
    8. Yongxia Meng & Peng Li & Lie Xiao & Rui Wang & Shutong Yang & Jiangxue Han & Bingze Hu, 2022. "Heavy Metal Content and Pollution Assessment in Typical Check Dam Sediment in a Watershed of Loess Plateau, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-13, July.
    9. Akhtar, Shahzad & Khan, Zafar Iqbal & Ahmad, Kafeel & Nadeem, Muhammad & Ejaz, Abid & Hussain, Muhammad Iftikhar & Ashraf, Muhammad Arslan, 2022. "Assessment of lead toxicity in diverse irrigation regimes and potential health implications of agriculturally grown crops in Pakistan," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 271(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:9:p:4741-:d:541980. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.